World Bank predicts Indonesian GDP growth at 5.1 percent

The roundabout in the downtown area of Indonesia's capital city of Jakarta. (Source: tempo.co)

Jakarta (VNA) – The World Bank has projected that Indonesia’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) will grow at a rate of 5.1 percent in 2016 amid global economic slowdown.

According to the WB Indonesia Economic Quarterly, June 2016 edition, the continuing policy reforms have strengthened the resilience of the Indonesian economy and helped overcome the effects of slowing demand and the global financial market turmoil.

"The cautious financial policy, increased government investment in infrastructure and policy reforms aimed at improving the investment climate, have helped Indonesia in maintaining its rate of growth in the range of 5.1 percent," the WB Country Director in Indonesia, Rodrigo Chaves, was quoted as saying by Indonesia’s Antara news agency.

The WB recently cut its forecast for world economic growth by half a percent from the earlier projected 2.4 percent due to the slowing growth in developing countries’ exporting commodities, which is expected to be just 0.4 percent this year.

The Indonesian economy fared better when compared with other commodity exporting countries, such as Malaysia (4.4 percent) and Thailand (2.5 percent), though it did less well than the Philippines at 6.4 percent and Vietnam (6.2 percent).

WB Chief Economist in Indonesia Ndiame Diop noted that with the weakening of the commodity sectors, Indonesia should seize this opportunity to expand its manufacturing and service sectors.-VNA